CNN got Governor Deval Patrick to pimp his gas tax proposal yesterday. He said, basically, that roads cost money, lots of it, and it’s OK to say as much, to be “candid about our choices and none of them are pleasant.”
“Grownups know that you can’t have something for nothing,” he said.
Michael Graham flogs Patrick in today’s Herald for his “grownups” line, and Fox piggybacks on it to say that, you know, Charlie Baker would never say such mean things about the good people of this great and honorable Commonwealth.
But for me, the “grownups” jibe is less of a shot at the electorate than it is at the legislature. These are the kids who made a big show of taking on transportation reform last year, and then, within a week, were caving before union lobbyists.
And how are things looking on Beacon Hill so far? We’re more than six weeks removed from the end of the legislature’s extended, four-month Summer/Thanksgiving/Christmas vacation, and the legislature remains, in the words of State House News, “in disarray.” The body’s transportation co-chairs are complaining that Patrick hasn’t sent them a gas tax bill yet, but the bills he has sent them have done little but gather dust. This time last year, Sal DiMasi’s house was deep into budget debates; now, bills don’t even have numbers yet. Lawmakers wasted several weeks playing palace politics, and now the most pressing issue is how quickly they’ll be able to move into their new offices.
“Are we in session?” one House member asked the News Service on Friday. “Can you guys tell me?”
Sounds like a question for a grownup.